Cry of the Smoldering Ashes
by catsvrsdogscatswin
Summary: "Ashes, ashes, blood and death. Run them 'round till they're out of breath. Ring around the roses, the open mind closes. Ashes, ashes, burn them down." Cicadas aren't the only thing crying in Hinamizawa anymore. Ashes Shōkyaku is an orphan with an ax to grind, and she's just insane enough to grind up whoever gets in her way. Based in Higurashi universe, first horror/violent fic.
1. Spirited Away By Demons Arc

_**So, it's my birthday, and I really wanted to post a Higurashi fic sometime…so here it is.**_

_**June 19, 2014**_

_Ashes's POV:_

I blinked my eyes slowly, then growled and looked away. _I want nothing to do with you, demon._ The small purple-haired girl in front of me stamped her feet, clenching her fists. "Hauauau! Pay attention!" she whimpered, and I turned and started walking away, knowing exactly where this would lead. _Get out of my head._ A cold hand grabbed my wrist, dragging me to a halt, despite the fact I was much bigger than the child. I turned, seeing her innocent indigo eyes go dark, with an ominous violet-red glowing behind them. "_**Don't run from me. You can never run from me, because you can never run from your fate. I'm waiting for you, **__**Shōkyaku Ashes.**_" she ground out, her voice echoing in the stygian darkness around us. I gritted my teeth. _Get out of my head! _My eyes widened as there was a burst of images, swirling crystals spinning in the endless abyss around us, and the grip on my wrist burned like cold fire. My ice blue eyes narrowed in fury.

"_**GET OUT OF MY HEAD DAMNIT!"**_

I shot upright, breathing hard. The ragged cotton blanket, stained with many years of usage, slowly settled to my waist, and I put my face in my hands, sucking in a slow breath. _That dream again._ I thought shakily, then turned my wrist over and looked. Sure enough, there was a bruise, shaped like a tiny grip, around it. My jaw tightened. _Damn that demon._ My eyes cleared as I sucked in a deep breath and I looked up to the sunlight shining through the hole in my roof. Birdsong and the endless humming of the cicadas met my ears, and I half smiled as I got up from my futon. Rolling up my blanket and placing it at the foot of the soft mattress, I traced my fingertips over the worn hilt of my hunting knife. _Still there._ I reassured myself, then smiled and walked down the worn hallway to my bathroom. Running the water, I began cleaning myself up to face the day.

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

"Eh?" Keiichi blinked a few times as Rena and Mion paused. "What is it Kei-chan?" Mion asked inquisitively, and he pointed to a pair of sneakers. "Whose are those? I thought that was an extra shelf?" he asked in confusion, and both girls looked away. "That's Shōkyaku Ashes's. She almost never comes to school, so Chie-sensei doesn't bother to put her name on her bin." Mion muttered, and he blinked. "Shōkyaku? Who're they? And why doesn't she come to school that often?" Rena scuffed her foot on the floorboards. "Ashes-san is an orphan. She lives in the woods, all the way on the other side of the village. She has to hunt for her own food since she won't take a job; she scavenges sometimes at the dump for things. I see her there from time to time." Keiichi blinked, and then jumped as the bell rang. "Crap! We're going to be late!"

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi blinked several times as Mion and Rena sat down, seeing the teen at the other end of the classroom, balancing her work on her knees and writing with an old, slightly grubby pencil. "That's her?!" he hissed to them as they took their seats. "You didn't tell me she has _white hair_!" Rena made a worried hushing motion as Chie-sensei began talking. "It's a long story, but she had a traumatizing event when she was younger and now her hair's just that color, okay?!" Mion hissed as she got out her things, and Keiichi glanced askance to the figure sketching in the corner. Her eyes were ice blue, and intently focused on her work. She was wearing a slightly grungy but not altogether stained jacket, dark grey with a white inner lining, along with some kind of tank top, also white. Her pants were a dirty grey as well, and she had no socks._ She really is from the poor end of town…_ he thought with a gulp, then hurriedly turned around as her icy eyes glanced up at him._ She's creepy!_

Rena perked up. "Say Keiichi-kun, have you made any plans for tomorrow? Have you?" He blinked. "Huh?" Mion tapped her pencil against the air. "You still can't find your way around Hinamizawa, right?" He looked away uncomfortably. "I guess not. I'm still not really sure how to get anywhere besides the school and the town." Rena perked up. "Yeah, so, you know, tomorrow we were planning on taking a walk around Hinamizawa to give you a better idea of the place. I'm going to make a boxed lunch, how about it?" Mion grinned. "You're coming, right?" Keiichi shrugged. "If I'm free, yeah." Mion scowled at him. "What's with that attitude?! A girl's asking you out!" He turned away. "If I'm free, yeah." he repeated airily, and Rena blinked at him, looking pitiful.

"Aren't you free? Aren't you?" she whimpered, and he held up a hand. "I am!" She perked up. "Great!" Mion twitched angrily. "I'm sensing some preferential treatment here!" she barked as she held up a fist warningly. Keiichi stuck his tongue out at her. "Bastard!" Keiichi turned to Rena with a grin. "Rena, let's go by ourselves tomorrow." She beamed back. "If that's what you want!" Mion spluttered. "Hey! I was the one who suggested giving him the tour!" There was a lengthy pause as Mion glared at Keiichi, and then they all started laughing.

_***Time Skip***_

"Hello!" The three teenagers turned as the blue-haired Rika and blonde Satoko came to a stop by their blanket. "Satoko…and Rika-chan?" Keiichi asked in surprise, his hands full of food. "What's going on here?" Satoko asked indignantly as they approached the picnic, and Keiichi spread his arms. "Can't you tell? We're about to enjoy Rena's homemade lunch box." Satoko bodychecked him with her hand. "I know that! I'm asking why you all spread a blanket and are eating in my yard!" Keiichi sat up angrily. "The shrine is public property! It's not yours!" he spat, and Rika beamed. "Keiichi's right. Let's make this everyone's yard." she chirped, and Keiichi grinned and pointed to a free space on the blanket. "Rika-chan's such a good girl! Take a seat over there, let's eat together!" Rika walked past him as Satoko held a hand to her mouth. "Oh, you leave me no choice. I'll keep you company." she said with a grin, and Keiichi smirked at her. "There's no room for you to sit, and there's not enough food for you either." he said, sticking out his tongue, and she straightened indignantly. "What was that?!" They began sissy-fighting as Rena beamed nervously. "It's okay! I made enough for you too Satoko-chan!" she said, but Keiichi cut her off. "No you didn't! I'm eating Satoko's share!"

"You can't do that!"

Despite Keiichi's protests, Rika gave Satoko some chopsticks and she began eating. "Youth is such a great thing." Mion joked, grinning, and Rena nodded. "Eat up. There's enough for everyone." she said with a beam, and Keiichi's eyes narrowed. "The hamburger steak's mine!" he shouted, lunging for it with his chopsticks, but Satoko leaped for it and elbowed the back of his head. "Oh no you don't!" He crumpled to the blanket, twitching. "Elbows are against the rules…" he groaned, and Satoko grinned. "Oh, we had rules?" Rena clapped her hands softly, grinning. "Eating lunch with everyone is so fun!" Rika nodded happily. "Rena's cooking is delicious…"

Mion blinked suddenly, then rose to her knees, waving. "Hey! Shōkyaku-san!" she called, and they all turned, seeing the white-haired teenager halfway down the stone steps. She blinked at the other children, not saying anything. Mion waved harder. "Come join us!" Ashes looked down the steps, then back at them, then seemingly shrugged to herself and skipped back up to their level. She sat down at the edge of the blanket as Keiichi and Satoko scooted apart to give her more room. "You wanted something Sonozaki-san?" she asked quietly, and Mion waved it away with a wry look. "Hey, my aunt calls me that! Mion-san, if you don't mind. We were just having a picnic and I wondered if you wanted in." Ashes blinked at the array of food. "It has been a long time since I had anything cooked." she murmured to herself, accepting a pair of chopsticks from her Rika and breaking them apart, starting to eat.

Satoko was next to break the awkward silence that settled over them after Ashes had joined the group. "So…what are you doing all the way up here?" Ashes nodded her head towards the shrine as she swallowed a rice ball. "Paying my respects to Oyashiro-sama. I do it every day, more or less." Keiichi squinted. "What with?" he asked tactlessly, and Mion elbowed him. Ashes smiled slightly. "I just toss whatever extra yen I have in offering, nothing much." Rena nodded happily. "And you go hunting in the dump for whatever you need!" Ashes colored slightly and looked away. "I just go there for things I can't trade or buy in town. Nothing more." she mumbled, and Rika smiled. "It's so nice of you to give to Oyashiro-sama every day!" she said, clapping her hands softly. Ashes rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Eh, it just makes me feel closer to my parents, you know?"

Mion smiled. "So, what do you find in the dump?" Ashes blinked a few times, then put a finger to her chin, looking up in thought. "Well, I usually go there to look for dishes, pots and pans, things like that. I find and restore some old things too, kinda like Rena-san." Rena blushed slightly. "You've seen me too?" Ashes smiled and tapped the side of her head. "You see me, I see you. Despite my hair color, I'm better at staying hidden than you'd think." she said with a wink, and they all laughed.

_**9.21 PM USA Central Time**_


	2. SABD(Arc): The Secret

_**Just for explanation's sake, and 'cause I was too tired to write it down last night, I've been playing around with the idea of doing a Higurashi fic, even though Higurashi (also known as When They Cry, or When the Cicadas Cry, or (its full Japanese name) Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (and the second season), Higurashi Kai) isn't a very well-known anime/game/whatever it is. Whatever. This is probably because it is no longer licensed, so you can't buy it on DVD (or at all?) and although it HAS been dubbed in English…the dub sucks. Really, really sucks. Really. The original Japanese (with English subs, obviously) is very good however; it's the best horror anime I've ever seen or ever heard of. So yeah. It isn't a quality problem, unless we are speaking of the aforementioned dub. But anyway, I'm taking a path into the deep and scary darkness of the Horror, Supernatural, and Psychological portion of writing. A long and no doubt difficult fic awaits me, but then again, that's why I write Fanfiction. For the practice. Wish me luck!**_

_**June 20, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

The cicadas chirped and hummed amongst the tall grass as the sun slowly sunk over the rolling hills, the sky going orange and gold and red. "Okay, let's call it a day!" Mion said happily, saluting the other two. "Rena, Kei-chan, see you tomorrow!" He nodded. "Thanks for today, Mion. It was fun." Rena beamed and waved. "See you tomorrow!" Mion turned and started to walk away, nodding. "Yeah!" Rena lowered her hand and turned back to Keiichi as their friend faded out of sight. "Thanks for coming with us, Keiichi-kun. Did you have fun?" she asked, and he nodded, turning to her happily. "Yeah, I did. It was so fun that I don't want to go home yet." he said with a grin, and she perked up. "Then can we stop somewhere first? Can we?" He blinked. "Where? Is it far?" he asked curiously, and she beamed. "We might have to walk a bit, but it won't take too long! This way!" she squealed, running past him, and he turned and followed. "Hey! Slow down!"

_***Time Skip***_

"It's been a while… so I wonder what's new? What's new?" Rena chirped as she skipped along the path before Keiichi. They stopped at the top of a hill. "It's been a while…you wanted to come to this garbage dump?!" he shouted, and she stomped her foot at him. "I-it's not garbage! To me, it's a mountain of treasure!" She turned back to the dump with a sparkle in her eyes. "A new mountain! Yippee!" she squealed, jumping headfirst into the mess. Keiichi was about to follow, but he stopped and stared at the white figure kneeling on a large scrap of something, several mountains away from Rena. _Ashes-san?_ She straightened up from yanking on an object, turning to face him. It may have been the angle of the sunlight, but for a moment he could've sworn her eyes were slitted, like a cat's. A cold chill went down his spine. She nodded once, then plunged down the other side of the trash heap, instantly lost to sight.

"Hey wait!" he tried, stepping forward, but immediately something in the junk under him gave way and he fell on his rear. "Ow…" Rena paused in her headlong dash down the slope. "Just stay over there, okay Keiichi-kun? I'll be done soon!" she said with a cheerful wave, then continued into the junkyard. "Are all country girls this tough?" he wondered aloud, then shrugged and lay back on an old piece of roofing material. "I'm no match for her…" he sighed, closing his eyes. He lay there peacefully for a moment, just enjoying the lingering warmth left over on the rusty metal from the hot afternoon sun. Suddenly footsteps approached and his eyes shot open as he tensed. _Ashes-san?!_ He automatically twisted upright, shocking a man with a camera and glasses. "Oh, you surprised me!" he said good-naturedly, and Keiichi spluttered. "T-that's what I should be saying!"

The man rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Are you from Hinamizawa?" Keiichi thought about it for a moment, blinking. "Well, yes…" The man smiled, holding up his camera. "My name is Tomitake. I'm a freelance photographer. I come to Hinamizawa from time to time." he explained, and Keiichi wearily got to his feet. "Isn't it rude to take a picture without asking permission first?" Tomitake waved his hand apologetically. "Sorry, I'm usually taking pictures of wild birds. I've never asked them before." he said with a self-deprecating chuckle, and Keiichi rolled his eyes. Rena suddenly called from the dump below, and they both turned to see her waving. "Keiichi-kun! Sorry for making you wait, I'm almost done!" Tomitake blinked. "Oh, you had a friend with you. What's she doing there?" he asked, and Keiichi sighed. "Who knows? Maybe she's checking out the corpse she chopped up." he said, half-jokingly, and Tomitake nodded, his friendly eyes suddenly going cold. "It was a horrible crime. I hear they still haven't found one of the arms."

Keiichi stared at him in shock. "What did you…" Rena's laughter from below broke the ominous silence, and Keiichi blinked once, like he was coming out of a dream. "I'm done Keiichi-kun!" Tomitake's friendly smile was suddenly back in place. "I should go. I don't want to be a third wheel. Sorry for scaring you, Keiichi-kun." He turned and left as Keiichi stared hollowly at his retreating back. Rena suddenly caught up to him. "Did you wait? Did you?" She noticed his hollow stare and hurriedly moved in front of his face. "Keiichi-kun?" He looked down and broke out of his reverie again. "S-sorry, I was just thinking about…Shōkyaku-san. I saw her just as we came here, but she didn't say anything." Rena quickly spun around and put a hand to her eyes. "Really? Ashes-chan was here?! Wow Keiichi-kun, you must be really lucky!" He blinked. "Lucky?" She beamed at him happily. "Ashes-chan is like almost like the magic spirit no one ever sees here in Hinamizawa. She never goes anywhere except the school, the shrine, and the grocery store, and usually when there's no one else around. So to see her three times in one day is really lucky!" she chirped, and he looked at the point he saw her disappear, remembering the flat, catlike stare and the way it had sent chills down his spine. _That was "lucky"?_

"So how'd it go? Did you find anything?" he asked, and she immediately went back to the subject of her "treasure" hunting with a grin. "Yeah! Guess what, I found the Colonel!" He raised an eyebrow. "The Colonel? You mean…that thing? That thing that's always in front of that fried chicken place? That 1/1 scale model?" he mused, remembering it slowly, and she clasped her hands and beamed. "Yeah, the Colonel! It's so cute! I want one for take-out!" He smiled slightly and looked down at the dump. "That's trash right? If you want to take it with you, I'm sure no one will care." he said warmly, and she smiled, then looked sad. "The Colonel is trapped under a pile of junk. I can't dig him out that easily." she admitted ruefully, and he put his hands on his hips. "I'll help you out tomorrow. Just think of it as thanks for the lunch today."

She brightened instantly, her eyes sparkling in a happy pose. "Thanks! Keiichi-kun's gonna help…I'll get to take the Colonel home!" She started spazzing out as something occurred to Keiichi. "Hey, Rena. Did something happen here in the past?" She turned to him with a bright smile. "I heard they were building a dam. But I don't know too much about it." she said, biting her thumb in thought. He put his hands in his pockets musingly. "They were building a dam? So did something happen during construction, like an accident-"

"I don't know."

He stiffened at her abrupt answer, and the air around her, the very mood of the evening in fact, seemed darker for a split second. She turned to him with one of her radiant smiles, and the ominous feeling instantly disappeared. "I was living in another town until last year." she explained, and he blinked in surprise. "Oh, you moved here, too? I just assumed that you were…" He trailed off, leaving the unspoken "_like me_" hanging in the breeze. She turned away slightly, her cropped bangs casting a shadow over her eyes. "That's why, I don't know too much about what happened before then. Sorry." He nodded, rubbing the back of his ankle with his other sneakered foot as he looked away. "Oh, okay." She nodded slightly with a tiny version of her usual grin. "Yeah!"

_***Time Skip***_

"A mannequin of the Colonel? Uh huh…so that's why Rena took off so fast." Mion said matter-of-factly as Keiichi sighed wearily, his face markered in black sharpie to look like a panda. He had lost the card game that the club had been playing. "I can't believe she thinks that thing is "so cute". She's pretty weird." he grumbled, and Mion shrugged. "She does have weird tastes, but once she finds something cute, she becomes completely oblivious to everything else." she sighed as she put her hands behind her head, and he spoke up after a pause. "About that place…the construction site for the dam…Something happened there in the past, right?" She closed her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Some government officials came to us, saying they were going to build a dam there, and they tried to force us out of the village."

"They tried to force you out?" he repeated in shock, and she lowered her hands. "That's why we fought it. Along with everyone in the village. If we hadn't, this village would be underwater right now." He raised both eyebrows. "I'm surprised you won the fight. It was the government you were going against, right?" She smirked slightly. "The village leader and a bunch of other people in high places went everywhere and petitioned. We even went to Tokyo, and we also befriended a bunch of important politicians. While doing all of that, the construction plans got scrapped. It was a perfect victory for us!" she said with a laugh, and he blinked slightly. "Oh? Were there any violent crimes because of it? Like assault or murd-"

She came to an abrupt stop.

He stopped a step after her, looking back in confusion, and she raised her head to look him dead in the eye. "No." she said solemnly, and he froze uncertainly, and then she closed her eyes and became the Mion he was used to. "See you tomorrow! You better not erase that until you get home." she said cheerfully, pointing to his face, and he scowled as she ran off down the lane. "Yeah, I know!" he shouted irritably after her, startling the crows in the trees as they started up a rancorous chorus of croaking calls. "I won't!"

_**9.45 AM, USA Central Time**_

_**PS: I actually almost forgot to say this (again), but I am writing this fic with the -san, -chan, -kun, ect. honorifics, so bear with me, okay?**_


	3. SABD(Arc): Discovery

_**June 22, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

"Yo, Rena!" Keiichi called from atop a trash hill, seeing the other teen yanking on an old cross-beam, and she jumped in surprise, standing straight. "Working hard, I see!" he teased, jumping down the piles of junk as she turned to face him. "Keiichi-kun! What are you doing here?" she squeaked, and he assumed a vaguely military posture. "I received emergency information about an accident, and came to help. Where is the injured, ma'am?" he asked professionally, putting a hand to his forehead and looking around theatrically. "What accident?" she asked in alarm, and he faced her again sharply. "I heard the Colonel mannequin is buried alive here!" he shouted dramatically, and she blinked a few times before giggling weakly. "Oh, that! You surprised me." she chuckled, putting a hand over her heart. "So, where _is_ the Colonel?" Keiichi asked, putting his arm down and casting his eyes about the heaps of junk.

She shook herself, smiling. "Sorry, he's over here!" she said brightly, jumping over a few things and then kneeling. "Here, can you see him through this crack?" He kneeled beside her, squinting down to see the buried mannequin. "Whoa, he's buried pretty deep. We might need an ax or a saw to dig him out." he said seriously, and she blinked, as if forgetting something. "Just wait a minute, okay?" she said brightly, then suddenly got up, skipping up the nearest pile of junk and disappearing down its side. "Hey!" he called in surprise, but she was already gone. He stood up, wandering lazily around the small valley that the junk had formed, spotting some old magazines and newspapers in one corner. He knelt, picking through them absently as Tomitake's words ran through his head. _It was a horrible crime. I hear they still haven't found one of the arms._ He stopped in shock on the page of an old newspaper.

_There was one…_he thought in surprise, reading it aloud. "Tragedy at the Hinamizawa Dam. Tortured and hacked to pieces. The murderers hacked the victim with hatchets and pickaxes in cold blood, and then took an ax to the body and cut off the head and appendages into six parts. One of the murderers is still at large…" His eyes widened, remembering Rena's flat denial. _"I don't know."_ Mion's. _"No."_ A chill ran down his spine. "There _was_ a murder…" he whispered, and for a moment there was dead silence, except for the endless humming of the cicadas.

"So you found out."

He nearly jumped a mile in the air at the quiet, deliberate voice, whipping his head up to see Ashes crouching on an abandoned TV set several meters above him, one hand lazily wrapped around a metal pole with a knife on top. "Shōkyaku-san?!" he spluttered, unable to think of anything else to say, and her mouth moved up in a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "So you found out about the murders, Maebara Keiichi." she chuckled as she lowered her makeshift spear, running her fingers over the edges of the blade. He blinked rapidly. "_Murders_?! T-there was only one!" he stammered, pointing helplessly to the paper, and her mouth curled up again. "Only one that you know of yet. It happens every year you know. The curse." she mused aloud, flipping the spear over to examine the butt. His eyes widened. "What _curse_?" he said demandingly, and she smirked. "You'll out soon enough. All I can say is, I'm glad that I live out in the woods, where it's safe." she chuckled ominously, licking a cut on her thumb as blood slowly oozed to the surface from the sharpness of her blade.

There was a sharp creak behind him, and he whirled, seeing Rena standing above him with a hatchet in her hands. His eyes widened and he let out a sound that was a cross between a choked scream and a startled yelp, tumbling backwards. "Are you okay? Are you?" she squealed frantically, jumping down the pile. He sat up, clutching his head. "You freaked me out…" he gasped, and she smiled sheepishly, raising her hatchet "Well, you said we needed an ax or something, that's why I…" He shakily got to his feet, wincing at his newly acquired scrapes and bruises. "You brought a huge one…" he chuckled, brushing himself off and then looking up at the sky. "But it's getting dark, so let's do this tomorrow." She looked downcast. "Okay…" He put his hands on his hips. "Hey, come on. You'll get to dig out the Colonel tomorrow!" She sighed. "I guess so…"

_That day, in retrospect, those noisy evening cicadas…were a warning of the events to come. Of all the things about to happen._

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi blinked as he saw Tomitake taking pictures of a bird in a tree. "Hello!" He turned, fiddling with something on his camera. "Oh, Keiichi-kun. Nice to see you again." He nodded cordially. "Same to you." he said, and Mion grinned. "Have you taken any good pictures?" Tomitake grinned happily. "Yeah, I got a couple." He winked at Keiichi. "Anyway, you're quite the playboy, Keiichi-kun. I want to be surrounded by girls too!" All three started as Rena blushed and Keiichi waved his hands frantically, Mion grinning at the both of them. "It's not like that!" Keiichi stuttered, and Tomitake put his hands on his hips ask Mion blinked. "Will you be staying for the Cotton Drifting Festival?" she asked, and he nodded. "Yes, that's my intention. I'm heading back to Tokyo after I take some pictures of the festival."

Rena smiled at him. "I hope you win some awards for your photographs soon!" she said encouragingly, and he laughed, stepping over the curb and walking past them. "Oh man! Well, see you at the festival." Mion waved to him. "Bye!" Keiichi turned to them as Tomitake wandered out of earshot. "You all know Tomitake-san?" he asked in surprise, and they both nodded. "Yeah. He comes to Hinamizawa two or three times a year." Mion explained, and Rena beamed. "He says he takes pictures of the seasons and wild birds." Keiichi nodded worriedly, his eyes following the retreating man's back. "Wild birds, huh?" he mused, a chill once again shuddering down his spine as he remembered the events at the dump.

_***Time Skip***_

"Cotton Drifting, huh?" Keiichi asked as he knelt at the water's edge with Rena. She nodded. "The cotton absorbs all your bad stuff. And it ends when we throw the cotton into the stream." she explained, and he lazily twirled a small stick around his fingers. "So does Shōkyaku-san ever show up for this?" he asked, concealing his unease, and Rena bit her nail nervously. "Actually…this is the only holiday she _doesn't_ show up for. I haven't seen her come to this at all, but I think she does do it at her own home. I find it hard to believe someone who believes in Oyashiro-sama so much doesn't celebrate the Cotton Drifting festival at _all_." she mumbled, and his tension slightly drained away. _At least I won't have to deal with her being creepy again…but I __**would **__like to get some answers from her!_ He thought irritably, a mood that he carried through him all the way through the rest of the festival.

He paused however, seeing Tomitake with a woman, her hair a light ash blonde with warm hazel eyes. "I think you're truly a part of Hinamizawa now." she said cheerfully, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I'm not so sure about that. There's still a lot of things I don't know." he admitted, and Tomitake perked up. "About Hinamizawa?" he clarified, and Keiichi nodded. "Like that thing about the dam construction, for one. They said Hinamizawa was pretty close to being underwater. It was a huge deal, wasn't it?" he asked, and Tomitake sighed.

"They started planning the dam about seven to eight years ago. Hinamizawa and all the areas upstream were going to be submerged." Keiichi blinked in shock. "It was that big of a deal?" Tomitake nodded. "There were protests, of course. It went to the courts, and they discovered a lot of scandals and corruption revolving around it. While all this trouble was happening, they decided to cancel the construction." Keiichi's eyes fell into shadow. "There was a murder where someone was cut to pieces, right?" Tomitake nodded solemnly. "Yes, there was. It was about four years ago, around this time of year. I think that was on the day of the Cotton Drifting Festival, too." The woman smiled slightly. "The older citizens didn't doubt that it was the curse of Oyashiro-sama." Keiichi's eyes widened. "The curse of Oyashiro-sama?"

"They thought the guardian deity of Hinamizawa brought divine retribution to the ones who were going to submerge the village." Tomitake said, and the woman nodded. "Since then, it's happened every year." Keiichi made a confused motion. "What has?" Tomitake's eyes narrowed. "Every year, a death occurs on the day of the Cotton Drifting Festival." Keiichi started. "Every year?!" he gasped, and Tomitake nodded once. "Yes. The year after the dismembered corpse murder, a resident of Hinamizawa, who was a supporter of the dam, died when he fell into the water under a cliff while away on vacation. The wife was never found." The woman picked up after him. "And the year after that, on the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival, the priest at the shrine suddenly died of an unknown illness. His wife drowned herself in a swamp on the same night."

Tomitake spoke up again. "And the year after that, again on the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival, a neighborhood housewife was found beaten to death." Keiichi's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "A housewife?" The woman clarified. "The victim's husband was the younger brother of the dam-supporter who had died two years earlier." she said, almost with relish, and Tomitake pushed up his glasses slightly. "And the fifth Cotton Drifting Festival After The first murder is…" His friend cut him off. "Tonight." Keiichi's eyes widened again, and he looked at the ground. "And… Shōkyaku Ashes? What does she have to do with this?"

The woman smirked slightly. "Oh, Ashes-san? Her family…were the first ones to fall victim to the curse." Tomitake sighed and shook his head. "Her mother was American, thus her unusual name. Ashes-san's mother and father were not supporters of the dam, but neither were they against it. In essence, they were mediators between the two factions. Ashes-san was about nine when the murders occurred. Her family lived in the same little cabin she resides in now, and the murders actually occurred therein. Both her parents were found, sliced up to the point of being almost unrecognizable. Ashes-san was hiding in her room with a bloody pocket knife, utterly terrified. From what the police could get out of her, someone had come in and attacked both parents at the same time, and she had taken up the knife to defend herself. She was completely traumatized by the incident; it turned her hair white and left her with a deep-seated mistrust of other people."

Tomitake's friend smiled slightly at this. "Ashes-san has since lived alone in the woods. She comes out to do odd jobs and pay respects to Oyashiro-sama, but never on the night of the Cotton Drifting. Maybe she knows something we don't?" she chuckled lightly, and Keiichi managed a small and shaky smile. "Yeah…maybe…" he stammered, turning to head down the road to his home. Ashes's cold eyes seemed to drill into his mind as his heart beat rapidly in his chest, remembering her little secret smirk and her words: _"__All I can say is, I'm glad that I live out in the woods, where it's safe."_ His pace became hurried as the shadows under the trees seemed to grow just a little more menacing.

_Just what the hell is going on in this village?!_

_**4.06 PM, USA Central Time**_


	4. SABD(Arc): Raining Secrets

_**Sorry for any delays, but the site I use to watch and therefore correctly copy down all the in-story info is…kinda slow and kinda not-very-good. When it works, it works quite well, but when it doesn't…it really doesn't. I'm trying! By the way, thanks for the review…I'm not going to even try to spell your penname, so please don't be offended. But thanks. I wasn't even sure I was going to get ANY reviews for this particular story, since Higurashi is so little known. I was just kinda doing it for A) the personal enjoyment of writing for such a cool series and B) practicing my horror-genre writing. I suppose if you like where it's going, I'm doing good!**_

_**June 24, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

The day after the Cotton Drifting Festival, Ashes did not show up at school. Keiichi found this a bit unsettling, but Mion and Rena both assured him that this was normal. It was actually more of a rarity to see Ashes at _all_ so close to the Cotton Drifting Festival, whether near the dump or around the village, and never mind actually _in_ it. He spent most of the day musing on what Tomitake had told him, and finally wrote it off as just a freaky folk-tale. The choice of the club game didn't exactly help either.

"I have solved all the mysteries!"

Mion flipped the first card. "The murderer is Rika-chan!" She flipped the second. "She used poison!" She flipped the third and last card. "She committed the murder in the medical office!" Keiichi swore angrily. "Damnit!" Satoko slammed her fist on the table. "I didn't get it!" Rika beamed and wagged her finger. "I like killing them slowly with poison." she chirped, and Mion laughed. "It was easy!" Keiichi assumed his game face. "One more game!" Then he blinked. "But I gotta go to the bathroom first." Mion snickered and yelled after him "Take as long as you want with your dump!" crudely. Rika made a face. "Aww, Mi-chan, that's gross!"

Keiichi grinned as he closed the door. "Not. I'm gonna take this time to plan out my strategy." he muttered, but Chie-sensei's voice interrupted him. "Maebara-kun!" He turned in surprise as she nodded towards the door. "You have a visitor. Please go to the entrance." She said brightly, before turning around and walking back to her office as he blinked. "A visitor?" He stepped outside, seeing a man with greying hair and sharp eyes leaning against the school He was wearing a suit with the jacket draped over his arm. "Are you Maebara-san? Maebara Keiichi-san?" he asked as he pushed off the wall, and Keiichi nodded. "Yes, I am. And you are?" he asked politely, and the man fished in his pocket for something, not answering. "I left the air conditioning running in my car. Why don't we talk in there?" he asked as he showed Keiichi his police badge.

Keiichi did so, feeling anxious. "So, what do you want with _me_?" he asked nervously, voicing his thoughts, and the man held up a photo of Tomitake. "Please tell me what you know about this man." Keiichi took it, frowning. "Hey…is this Tomitake-san?" The man leaned down and fished around in the glove compartment. "Then, do you know who this woman is?" he asked, holding up a photo of the woman who had talked about Ashes's parents. "Umm, I don't know her name, but she was with Tomitake-san last night." he admitted, and the man took a cigarette out of his pocket, along with a lighter. "When was the last time you saw these two?" he asked, and Keiichi blinked. "I talked to them last night, the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival." he said as the man blew out a stream of smoke. "Did you notice anything strange? Please tell me anything you know." he said as Keiichi held a hand to his face, wrinkling his nose at the sharp scent of nicotine. "What happened?"

The man clicked a button, rolling his window down so the fumes would dissipate. "The man in the picture passed away last night." Keiichi froze, looking down at the cameraman's smiling face. _He's…dead?_ "He was killed on the day of the Cotton Drifting. I'm sure you know what that means." the man said after a moment, and Keiichi blinked. "What that means? You mean like the curse of Oyashiro-sama? What happened?!" he asked anxiously, and the man started flipping through a small case notebook. "One of our guys, on the way back from his security post during the festival, found the body. This was at five minutes to midnight. It happened where the road leads out of town, the part where the road becomes paved. That part has almost no streetlamps. We found Tomitake-san's body on the shoulder of the road, in the darkness." He closed the casebook and tossed it onto the other seat. "The ground was covered with blood and filth." Keiichi covered his mouth to stifle a gag. "The autopsy showed that he had slit his own throat with his fingernails."

Keiichi's hand tightened on the picture as the man stubbed out his cigarette. "Fingernails?" He nodded, flicking his lighter on and off. "For whatever reason, Tomitake-san started forcefully clawing at his throat. And he hit a major artery. We suspected he was under the influence of narcotics, but the test came up clean. However, we found some additional injuries on him. It is entirely possible that he was assaulted by multiple people." Keiichi swallowed hard. "Multiple people?" The man nodded. "Estimated time of death is between 9 PM and 11 PM. Meaning, he died right after you last saw him." A thought suddenly entered Keiichi's head. "What about the woman?!" The man took up his pack of cigarettes, pulling another one out. "She's turned up missing. It's extremely likely that she's been dragged into this as well. At this rate, people will think Tomitake Jirou was killed by the wrath of Oyashiro-sama. People will think Oyashiro-sama punished him for insensitively taking pictures during the sacred festival." Keiichi jolted indignantly, remembering the friendly casualness of the deceased. "That can't be! Besides, there's no way people can die from divine retribution or curses! Ask Ashes-san, she probably saw it with her own eyes!"

The man lit the cigarette and sighed. "Maebara-san, Shōkyaku Ashes is an intensely reclusive individual, not to mention that shack of hers is almost entirely unoccupied during the day. I would have to post an officer there for hours on end to have any chance of having a word with her, and she'd take that as an invasion of her privacy, something she takes very seriously. Besides, knowing Shōkyaku-san, she'd not only have looked the other way, she'd have left the area at the first sign of trouble from any quarter, especially during the Cotton Drifting Festival. No, I need the cooperation of someone from Hinamizawa who does not believe in such curses. Tell me anything, even if that information is unconfirmed." He turned around in his seat and help up a card. "This is my phone number. And please keep this matter a secret between us. Especially from Sonozaki and your friends." Keiichi looked up from examining the card. "Sonozaki? You mean Mion? Why?"

The man looked away. "As of now, I don't know who in this village may be involved, or to what degree. That's why I don't want you to tell the other villagers." Keiichi blinked. "No way…" The man sucked in another nicotine-loaded breath. "Then let me put it this way…keep it a secret so these people don't have to worry, since they blindly believe in the curse. What if you think of it like that?" He smiled at Keiichi, but somehow he didn't feel reassured. "All right…and if I see Ashes-san again?" The man snorted, shaking his head.

"Knowing her, she won't show up for another month after the Festival. I don't understand it, but she seems to think that the further she stays away from the village, the less chance there is of being cursed." Keiichi nodded and stepped out of the car. "Uh…" he mumbled, pausing as he remembered he hadn't gotten the man's name throughout the entire conversation. "My name is Oishi from the Okinomiya police department." he offered before Keiichi could ask, and he nodded shakily and walked away. "O-Okay…"

_***Time Skip***_

The next day was rainy and overcast, echoing Keiichi's mood. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, constantly mulling over what Oishi had told him and turning it over and over in his mind like a garden rock that might've shown a new piece of information or a way to make it all fit together if he just turned it a little more. He was practically asleep on his desk when his ears caught Mion and Rena murmuring. Even though it was wrong, he strained to listen, and felt a familiar pang of anxiety when he caught what they were talking about.

"I heard she disappeared on the night of the Cotton Drifting…"

"But…there are others, right?"

"I'm not sure if she was hit by the curse or was spirited away by demons…"

His eyes opened as he tried to look behind him, even though he didn't move his head.

_Spirited away…by demons? What's that mean?_

"If it _is_ Oyashiro-sama…"

"Am I next?"

His eyes widened. _Rena?_ Why was she- His mind swerved back to the afternoon at the dump._ That's right…Rena had moved out, but then she suddenly moved back in. You aren't telling me that __**that's **__because of the curse too!_

"You came back."

He strained his ears as the rain pattered harder on the windows, their conversation cutting out a bit.

"But –toshi-kun didn't make it, right?"

"That's all in the past…let's not talk about it anymore."

_**11.49 AM, USA Central Time**_


	5. SABD:(Arc): Liar

_**I'm actually having a bit of a problem with the term "Oni", it can mean a bunch of demonic beings depending on the context and who translated it. The official name for the chapter is "Spirited Away By Demons" but in the translation I watch the "demons" (oni) are constantly referred to as "ogres". So I'm a bit confused, and it'll probably show here and there. By the way thanks to my reviewer with the unpronounceable name, for both giving me something to call them and the new review. I shall now call you Dante. (It helps a lot to be able to call you something.)**_

_**June 24, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

"Oh, shoot!" Keiichi and the others looked up as Mion suddenly leapt from her seat. "I forgot I had to help my uncle today!" she blurted, then bowed to the group. "Sorry! I'm skipping club today!" Keiichi blinked. "You're helping out your uncle? You're actually pretty dutiful, even though you don't look it." he said teasingly, and Mion laughed as she waved goodbye. "Sorry everyone, I'm gonna go home for today." Satoko placed her cards on the table as Rika did the same. "In that case, the meeting is over for today." Keiichi sighed. "Aw man…" Rika and Satoko snagged their backpacks and walked out the door. "Good day to you all!" Satoko said, and Rika beamed. "Goodbye!" Keiichi and Rena waved. "See you tomorrow!" Rena said happily, and Keiichi rolled his eyes. "Be careful on your way home."

"Aw man, I was looking forward to this game." he pouted as he glanced at the cards, blinking as he saw a name he had never seen before on the back of the uppermost one. "Satoshi? Who's this?" He raised his voice without looking around as Rena walked past him, carrying several chairs. "Rena, have there been students who transferred out of this school?" She nodded as she set them down. "Yeah, from time to time." she said absently as she started setting them up where they belonged. "What about this guy Satoshi?" She didn't respond for a split second, then spoke up. "Sorry. I don't really know. He transferred out around the same time I came here." She turned with a slight smile. "That's why I didn't get the chance to talk to him much."

_***Time Skip***_

The rain had eased off by the time they had gotten no more than halfway home, for which Keiichi was grateful. He paused however, a nagging doubt in the back of his mind finally manifesting. "Hey, Rena." he asked as she came to a stop as well, her back to him. "Are any of you lying or keeping me in the dark?" She turned slightly, an innocent expression on her face. "No, we're not." His eyes narrowed. "You're lying." She turned to fully face him, clutching her bag between her hands. "What's that supposed to mean, Keiichi-kun…" He refused to budge from his belligerent pose. "There's something you're not telling me." He swallowed hard as he noticed something…strange about her eyes. They were almost…cat-slitted, like Ashes's had been for that one split second in the dying light of day. Only now it was still afternoon. And it wasn't going away. "What about you? Aren't you lying and keeping secrets from us? Aren't you?"

He stiffened, feeling another chill race down his spine as his mouth went dry. "Aren't you lying and keeping secrets from us? Aren't you?" He found his voice, looking away uncomfortably. "I'm not. I don't lie or keep any secrets." He could hear her gritting teeth. "You're lying." He glanced back at her in shock. "Why would you say that?" he stammered, and her lips curved up slightly. "You said you went to the teacher's office when she called you away yesterday. But I know you didn't go to the teacher's office. You were talking with someone in a car near the school gates. With a stranger." He twitched in shock, but she continued relentlessly. "Who is that man?" He inhaled deeply. "I don't know him."

"If you don't know him, why would he talk to you?" she asked softly, and he scowled. "That's what I want to know!" he snapped, but she didn't react. She didn't even blink. "Then, what were you talking about?" He looked away again, unable to deal with the almost…soulless gaze that was fixed upon him. "It has nothing to do with any of you." he muttered, and her face twisted in anger. "LIAR!" she roared, startling him and the birds from the nearby trees. Then she suddenly smirked sweetly and approached him until they were nearly face to face. "Just like how you have some secrets, so do we." she whispered, and he gulped. "Y-yeah." She blinked, and like a spell breaking, the flat, round stare went away, replaced with the Rena he had always known. "Let's go. The weather's a lot cooler now." she said cheerfully, walking away with a bounce in her step. He stared after her as a droplet of sweat ran down his face. The weather may have been cooler, but he was sweating with fear.

_***Time Skip***_

The phone rang as Keiichi, sprawled on the floor before his homework table, blinked sleepily. "Keiichi! You have a call from the bookstore!" his mother called, and he frowned slightly, looking at the door. "Bookstore?" He sat up and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?" He tensed as he recognized the voice on the other end._ "Sorry for calling so late. I'm Oishi from the Okinomiya Bookstore._" His already swirling mind took a moment to realize the misplacement. "Oishi-san?!" The policeman laughed, then was all business. _"So, did anything strange happen?" _Keiichi twirled the cord around his fingers. "Do you know what "spirited away by demons" means?" There was a clicking sound in the background –the people around Oishi were probably playing a game or something. _"It's an expression unique to that village. It's no different from the regular "spirited away"." _Keiichi frowned. "Spirited away?" he wondered aloud, glancing towards the stormy sky outside. _"Long ago, Hinamizawa was called the "village of ogres" and was widely feared."_ Keiichi looked upward in thought. "Ogres? Like the ones in hell?"

Oishi snickered. _"More like man-eating ones. The kind that come into the village, kidnap some people, and then eat them. The village was tagged with this scary fairy tale._" Keiichi shifted uneasily. "Rena and Mion were talking about it. About Oyashiro-sama and being spirited away by demons or something." Oishi's tone changed slightly. _"Maebara-san, you know about the first murder, right? The one with the chopped up corpse, not Ashes-san's."_ Keiichi nodded. "Yes. Of the six murderers, one is still at large." Oishi sighed. _"Hypothetically speaking, what if that one was spirited away by demons instead of being on the run?"_ Keiichi narrowed his eyes as he shifted the phone against his ear. "What about the accident the following year? The one where the man who supported the dam construction and his wife both died in accidents?"

_"To tell you the truth, only the man officially died in the accident. As for the wife, her body still hasn't been found."_ Keiichi swallowed slightly. "What about the third year? The one where the priest died of an unknown illness and his wife committed suicide." he asked, and Oishi sighed once more in aggravation. "_This case is exactly the same, too. There was a suicide note, but the body of the wife has not been found."_ Keiichi blinked and shifted uneasily._ "I don't know if I can call that "spirited away by demons", but every time there's a case of Oyashiro-sama's "curse", one person goes missing. Before you ask, for Ashes-san, no one did go missing, so in the minds of most residents of Hinamizawa, she is stricken from the "list" of victims, although she is heavily associated with it._" Keiichi played his last card. "Then, what about the housewife's death last year? Did anyone go missing? The murderer was caught, right?"

_"Yes, he was. He was a drug addict. But after the suspect was arrested, we learned that a child of the victim had gone missing._" Keiichi frowned. "But the murderer was arrested!" He noticed how the call had not gone out and guessed it was probably a payphone that Oishi just kept putting money in. _"He died in jail while we were still interrogating him. We still don't know what really happened." _Keiichi suppressed a shudder. "What about the missing kid?" he asked, and there was a slight pause as Oishi thumbed through his book. _"The child is one year older than you. His name is Hojo Satoshi."_ Keiichi started. "Satoshi?!" he gasped, remembering the card he had seen and again, with chills, Rena's denial of knowing anything about it. _"He was attending your school until last year." _Another memory surfaced, of Chie-sensei telling him to sit in the empty chair by Mion and Rena, because "the student there has already transferred out".

He jumped as his father banged on the door with his foot. "Hey, Keiichi! Open up!" He turned back to the phone. "Sorry, but my dad is here. Let's finish up for tonight." he whispered, and Oishi sighed. _"Please tell me if you learn anything new. Now if you'll excuse me…" _Keiichi put the phone down as his father continued ranting. "Hey! Hurry up and open the door!" He slid it open with a scowl. "I'm opening it now." he grumbled, then looked down to see the two cups of tea. "What's that for?" he asked in confusion, and his father smirked. "Oh, come on. Rena-chan was here. I figured I may as well bring you guys some tea." His eyes widened as his father looked around his room and then sighed in amusement. "Hmm? I guess I missed her." Keiichi finally pried his mouth open. "Rena was…" His father rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair affectionately. "You don't have to hide it! You were talking to Rena the whole time, right?"

Keiichi swallowed hard and didn't answer. "Dad, you saw her walk up the stairs?" He smiled. "Yeah, I did. I told her your room was right up the stairs." Keiichi looked down as his father laughed and closed the door, walking down the stairs. "What are you doing, Keiichi? What's your problem?" Keiichi glanced at the phone in fear. _Rena was __**here**__…she was right outside my room the whole time. She heard the whole thing word for word._ Outside his room, the wind blew gently, stirring the bangs and soft orange hair of one Ryugu Rena, her eyes flat and catlike, gleaming in the darkness as they stared unblinkingly at Keiichi's lighted window. Farther away, icy and bright, yet similar eyes blinked twice, glowing with an eerie inner light of their own.

And the cicadas continued chirping in the long grass.

_**3.27 PM, USA Central Time**_


	6. SABD(Arc): Suspicions

_**June 25, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

"What's wrong Keiichi? You look pale." Keiichi looked up as his mother drew back the curtains to his room. "I think I have a cold. I have a fever, too." he mumbled, putting a hand to his head. The doorbell suddenly rang. "It's Rena-chan. I think she's here to get you." she said cheerfully, heading for the door. Keiichi swallowed slightly. "I want to take the day off…sorry." His mother nodded. "I'll go tell Rena, then." Keiichi yawned and fell back onto his futon. "Yeah."

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi was walking home from the clinic when a car horn beeped behind him. Turning, he saw Oishi's car as the man himself waved at him from the driver's seat. "Hello, Maebara-san! Why aren't you in school today?" he asked, leaning out the window. Keiichi held back another yawn, feeling his lack of sleep. "I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't go." he mumbled, and Oishi smirked. "I was about to have some lunch. Would you like to come with me to Okinomiya?" Keiichi had to take a moment to filter that through his dazed brain, then nodded slightly. "Sure." The car ride was silent, and Keiichi took the time to try and organize his rampant thoughts. Oishi merely smoked his incessant cigarettes.

They arrived at the place, called "Angel Mort". Oishi and Keiichi sat down in one of the booths, waiting for the waitress to deliver the food before the police officer started on his litany. "I've felt that something's been out of place since the day Satoshi-kun went missing. I took the liberty of investigating Satoshi-kun's friends…meaning, your group of friends." Keiichi paused as he was about to take a sip of his tea. "The victim in the first year was the foreman of the construction site, but he had a few fights with Sonozaki Mion-san a few weeks prior to his death." Keiichi put the cup down worriedly. "With Mion?"

"Have you heard about the incident in the second year regarding the accident with the dam-supporting couple? Their daughter was also with them at the time. That daughter is Hojo Satoko-san." Keiichi jolted as Oishi took a sip of his own tea. "What?! Satoko…you mean _that_ Satoko?!" Oishi took another sip and put his cup down. "And in the third year, the priest and his wife died, right? Their daughter is Furude Rika-san." Keiichi looked down at his lunch, no longer feeling hungry. "Rika-chan is…" Oishi tapped a finger against the side of his cup. "The housewife that died in the fourth year is Hojo Satoko-san's aunt by marriage. At the time, she had custody of Satoko-san because of her parents' deaths. Also, the boy who went missing in the fourth year, Hojo Satoshi-san, is Satoko-san's brother by birth." Keiichi started again.

Oishi's eyes never left his face. "This series of freak deaths are all connected to your group of friends." Keiichi slammed his fist on the table angrily, startling the people around them. "It has to be a coincidence!" he blurted, and Oishi made a calming motion. "Maebara-san, please be quiet. You're making a scene." Keiichi nodded shakily, feeling the anger drain out of him as quickly as it had come. "S-sorry…" he muttered, and Oishi nodded a few times before continuing. "Ryugu-san was living in the suburbs of Ibaraki Prefecture until last year." Keiichi brightened. "That's right, Rena's different!" he said happily, and Oishi closed his eyes. "But after checking it out, Ryugu-san had been suspended from school a few weeks before moving to Hinamizawa."

"W-what?"

Oishi leaned forward. "I heard she went around school and shattered all the windows." Keiichi blinked a few times, staring at his hands. "Rena…did?" he whispered, remembering the chatty and lively girl. "She was then taken to a neurologist, and was prescribed some drugs and counseling." Keiichi frowned. "A neurologist?" he repeated, confused. _I can understand the drugs and counseling…but a neurologist?_ "There's a record of what she said in her medical records. A specific word appears numerous times." Oishi said as he loosened his tie. "What is it?" Keiichi asked in a whisper. "The word "Oyashiro-sama". She says Oyashiro-sama stands by her bed every night and looks down upon her. She moved to Hinamizawa shortly after that."

"If she's an outsider, then why…" Keiichi asked, remembering Oyashiro-sama was a local god not know in many other places. Oishi took a sip of his tea. "Rena-san isn't an outsider." He put the finished cup down on the saucer as Keiichi's eyes widened. "What?" Oishi looked up at him. "I checked the residency cards. The Ryugu family originally lived in Hinamizawa. They moved to Ibaraki when Rena-san entered grade school." Keiichi sought for words to defend his friend. "Then what about…the last victim, Tomitake-san? Who's connected to him?" Oishi put his chin on his clasped hands. "Everyone. Have you already forgotten, Maebara-san?" he asked quietly, and Keiichi looked down at his untouched tea. "The victims all had some kind of connection to your friends, saving the murders of Ashes-san's parents." Keiichi swallowed hard. "Why are you telling me this?" he whispered numbly. "Maebara-san, you're the one in danger." Oishi responded simply, keeping his hands locked as Keiichi felt sick to his stomach.

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi was laying sprawled on the couch that evening when the doorbell rang…again. He got up and went to the door, opening it to see Rena and Mion standing there. Rena held a small lunchbox. "How are you feeling?" Mion asked brightly, and he held back his flood of suspicions._ At least Ashes-san isn't here._ "O-okay." he managed, and Rena smiled. "I'm glad you look okay. We were worried about you." Mion nodded enthusiastically. "Yup!" Keiichi looked down, scuffing his foot at the doormat. "Sorry." Mion leaned forward, peering at his face. "Looks like you're still not 100% better." she said with a sigh, and he blinked. "R-really?" Rena started forward, handing him the box. "Here's some ohagi that Mi-chan's grandma made." she said, and he nodded. "Thanks."

She beamed. "Yeah, I made one of them! I wonder if you can guess which one it is!" Mion held up a finger. "That's your homework for skipping out on today's club. We put letter on each of them, so give us an answer tomorrow!" He blinked, then twitched. "Are you here to visit me or for club games?!" he snapped indignantly, and Mion and Rena chuckled as he fumed. "You look fine. You'll be okay tomorrow." she said happily, and Rena turned to her. "Let's go, Mi-chan. It'll be rude if we cause too much of a racket." she said, and Mion chuckled. "I guess so. Oh, by the way Kei-chan." she added, turning to him, and he sighed irritably. "What…"

"What did you have for lunch?" she asked softly, and his throat seized up as he saw the flat, catlike gleam in her eyes. "I-I went out to eat." he stammered, fighting the urge to slam and lock the door in their faces. "Oh, you went out for lunch." Rena murmured, her soulless eyes boring into his. "How was it? Was it good?" Mion pressed. "You were with some old man. Who was he?" The lunchbox fell from his hands in shock. "Is it the same man as last time? Is it?" Rena cooed, tilting her head as he found his voice. "H-how do you know?" he whispered, his body trembling. "So, what were you talking about? You were getting pretty worked up about it." Mion continued, and he swallowed hard. "I…I didn't talk about you guys…" Rena made a long humming sound. "Hmm? I don't believe you."

"Well, it doesn't matter, because I know what you're doing. I just hope you won't forget that." Mion droned, her eyes unblinking. That was what scared him the most. Neither of them had blinked. Not once. "Keiichi-kun, you look pale. Maybe you should lie down." Rena crooned, and Mion picked up the box. "Yeah. We're going now." she said quietly, shoving it into his stomach as he took a step back. The door started to swing closed, but stopped as it came within an inch of the frame as he saw the flat gleam of Mion's eye. "Please" don't be absent tomorrow." The door closed.

Keiichi shakily put the box down on the kitchen table. "How…how did they…" he whispered numbly, staring at the five ohagi balls. He sat down, picking the one labeled "E" up and peeling the label off before taking a bite. He chewed once, then gagged as agony exploded in his mouth and staggered over to the sink, spitting out his mouthful and staring at it. A gleam caught his eye, and he peered closer as the hair rose on the back of his neck. "A needle?!" He shook rapidly, then threw the food at the wall with a scream, picking up the other rice balls and hurling them with equal force. He swept the bin off the table in his blind fury, then sank to the ground, sliding down the kitchen counter in a terrified daze.

Rena and Mion had just tried to kill him.

_**12.13 PM, USA Central Time**_


	7. SABD(Arc): Hunted

_**Something that may or may not be true (Higurashi is almost entirely set in the 1980s (1983 to be specific), so it may not be true anymore), but Japanese people traditionally do not sleep on bed beds like in the US or Britain, but these cotton mattress things that they lay on the floor. They're called futons and are (allegedly) very comfy. I've never slept on one myself, so I wouldn't know. It's one of the many things I wish to try when/if I ever go to Japan.**_

_**June 25, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

_ I, Maebara Keiichi, am being hunted by someone. I don't know why, or who it is. But I do know that is has something to do with the curse of Oyashiro-sama._ Keiichi put his pen down, rising to take the hanging clock off the wall of his room. He folded the paper up, then taped it down to the back of the clock and replaced it. "All right." he said with a determined nod. _If I find out anything else, I'll write it down and put it up there, so even if I die, someone will know the truth._ It seemed like a good, solid plan._ Well, only one way to find out._

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi was early walking to school that morning. He didn't want the chance that he'd confront either Rena or Mion and have to deal with them again. As he passed a nondescript white van, he saw a man with some kind of workman's uniform glare at him from a crack in the tinted windows. Suddenly he heard a loud squealing of tires, and leapt back off the road, gaping at the white van as it hurled past where he had been mere seconds before. Had he reacted a second slower, it would've run him over. He saw the man curse in the side mirror, and then the van accelerated again, shooting down the dirt road. "That was a…hit-and-run!" he whispered in horror, feeling his heart thumping in his chest, as though determined to remind him of what he might've permanently been deprived of –_life_.

_Don't let your guard down! _Keiichi thought as he entered the empty classroom, glancing in every corner. _I have to protect myself._ He opened the sports lockers one by one, and in the last one he looked, he saw a metal bat. He took it out, swinging it a few times to test the balance. "Perfect." He felt his tiredness from the past few nights without sleep wash over him, and he ran a tap, splashing the water onto his face as the other kids started arriving. "Good morning!" He glanced to the side, seeing Rika and Satoko. "Oh my, you're here early, Keiichi-san!" Satoko said with a grin, and he nodded vacantly. "Yeah." Satoko peered closer at him. "But what's with those clothes?" He rubbed the back of his head anxiously. "N-nothing.

"I felt out of shape, so I was thinking of taking a few practice swings." he added, taking up the metal bat he had found and giving it a few gentle swings in illustration. Satoko suddenly ducked her head and ran down the hall. Keiichi stared after her as Rika did the same, then turned to him. "Taking care of your health is a good thing." she said approvingly, and he nodded shakily. "Y-yeah." There was an awkward silence, and Rika suddenly raised her head. "But whatever you do, please don't lose that bat." She smiled and skipped away as he weakly reached out, then looked down at the bat in confusion. _Why did Satoko run away…when she saw it?_

_***Time Skip***_

"Hey, Kei-chan! I was surprised when I heard you had left early!" Mion shouted as Keiichi paused in his swings, swallowing slightly and looking over to see her and Rena approaching. Mion raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing?" He scowled and looked away. "Can't you tell? I'm practicing! For the national finals!" he snapped, coming up with the excuse on the spot, and Mion started. "The national finals?" she repeated, and he blinked as they both looked at each other. "Okay, whatever. Good luck." Mion said quietly as they both looked away, and he stopped swinging with a snarl. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" he snarled, pounding the bat into the ground instead, feeling an inexplicable wave of anger wash over him.

He felt on edge the rest of the day, and when Mion announced the start of the club games, he merely put his books in his bag and took the bat from his locker, starting to walk out. "Kei-chan, are you going home?" Mion asked in surprise, and he paused without looking behind him. "I don't feel up to this. Can you leave me alone for a bit?" he muttered, and Rena looked saddened. "Keiichi-kun…so you don't want to play with a bunch of girls? Don't you?" He gritted his teeth. "It's not that." he snapped, leaving without another word. He had gotten more than halfway home before he felt it. A watching sensation. His grip tightened on the bat and he whirled around, raising it. "What do you want?!"

Rena jerked back. "Nothing…umm…" she mumbled, putting a hand to her face. He didn't lower the bat. "What happened to the club?" he hissed. "I…I was worried about you." she stammered, shifting her feet. "Don't follow me." he snapped angrily, finally lowering the weapon. He turned and began to stalk away, but he heard her footsteps follow him. "I said don't follow me!" he shouted as he turned again, and she flinched. "But my home is in the same direction!" she stuttered, and he stood to the side. "Then go ahead of me! I'll start walking when I can't see you anymore." he snapped, and she swallowed. "I just wanted to–"

"Get going! NOW!" he barked, pointing the bat down the road violently as she flinched again. "I will! But please put down that bat! You're scaring me…" she whimpered, and he frowned, then slowly lowered it. She started walking, and passed him, but paused for a moment. "Don't stop!" he snapped, and her shoulders quivered. "Umm…um…Can I ask you something?" He scowled and looked away. "What?" She turned to face him, her eyes saddened. "Why are you carrying a bat, too?" His head snapped back to her. "What are you talking about?" he asked in annoyance. "Well…I was wondering why you're carrying a bat, too…" she mumbled, and he took a belligerent step forward. "I don't understand what you're saying! Tell me what that's supposed to mean!"

She turned away. "Why are you carrying that bat just like Satoshi-kun did?!" He flinched. "Satoshi?" Looking down at the back, he realized that the characters carved onto the base did indeed spell Satoshi. "T-this? I borrowed it. He won't care!" he said with false casualness, and she stiffened. "That's not what I'm saying!" He blinked. "What?" Her voice, which had been rising, fell slightly, but was still outraged. "Why? Why are you doing everything exactly the same as Satoshi-kun?" His blood ran cold. "What's…the same?" he whispered, his hands shaking. "He joined the team, but he never played any sports." He swallowed. "So what?" he asked shakily, feeling his hand tighten around the worn metal of the bat. "Satoshi-kun also suddenly started walking alone to school one day. Just like you… And then one day, he started practicing swinging his bat…just like you! And then one day, he started carrying the bat around with him! Just like you! And then one day…one day…"

"One day?" he whispered, unable to stop himself. "What happened to Satoshi?!" She didn't respond. "Answer me Rena!" he snapped, grabbing her shoulder and whipping her around to face him, only for the hairs to rise on the back of his neck once more. She raised her head, her eyes catlike and cold. "I already told you, Keiichi-kun. Satoshi-kun "transferred out"." He took a step back, tripping and falling on his rear as the bat clattered out of his hands. "Transferred…out?" he repeated in a whisper, shaking. "You won't do that, right, Keiichi-kun?" she asked softly, and he tensed. "Won't what?" She smiled ever so slightly. "_Transfer out_…"

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi's eyes snapped open as the phone rang. He had been trying to get some sleep on his futon, but was failing miserably. He sat up and put the receiver to his ear. "Hello?" His eyes opened in surprise at his mother's voice. _"Oh, Keiichi?"_ He sighed. "Ah, mom…" he muttered, closing them again. _"Your father and I had to go to Tokyo because of work."_ He straightened. "Just now?" She sighed a little sheepishly. _"No, we're already here. We left before noon."_ He shifted a little in confusion. "What the…" His mother's voice fell slightly. _"Your father's contract isn't going very well. We'll be back tomorrow night, but you'll be alright on your own, right?"_ He chuckled a little shakily. "Not like it's going to kill me." he said, and she laughed. _"Okay. Bye, then. Make sure you wake up on time tomorrow. And make sure you eat properly._" He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Later."

He set the phone down, then realized how very alone he was.

How very, _very_ alone.

_**3.23 PM, USA Central Time**_


	8. SABD(Arc): Distortions

_**June 26, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

Keiichi wandered through the house, turning on most of the lights and even the TV. It was just a spur of the moment paranoia, he told himself. Even though he had _never_ had a problem with staying home alone before. But somehow the thought of the lights being out and the house being silent raised hairs of the back of his neck, and his heart beat just a little bit faster. He shook himself as he turned away from the TV, sliding the porch door closed and locking it before pulling the heavy curtains over the glass. He turned on the hallway light, clicking the lock on the door handle and then adding the extra chained lock…just in case.

The phone rang again.

"Hello?" he asked, half listening to whatever strange show the television was blaring._ "Good evening. Sorry for calling so late. I'm with the Okinomiya bookstore, and my name is Oishi-_" He jolted. "Oishi-san, is that you?!" he blurted, then sheepishly composed himself. _"How is it? Did anything strange happen?"_ he asked clinically, and Keiichi swallowed slightly. "I…I think, umm, someone's trying to kill me." He could hear Oishi jolt, apparently the news surprised him. _"Really?!"_ He nodded, shifting a little. "It could be a coincidence, but…there was a needle in the ohagi Rena and Mion gave me when they came by. I didn't swallow it, but isn't this…" he mumbled, feeling slightly guilty over incriminating his friends…if they were still indeed his friends._ "And the needle?"_ He shrugged. "It was a common sewing needle…"

_"That's not what I mean, Maebara-san, the needle itself! Its evidence! We might be able to use it as proof that someone's threatening you!"_ Keiichi blinked, then hurriedly set down the phone, bolting to the kitchen and glancing around, picking up the lid on the garbage can, looking into the sink, and finally concluded that the needle was nowhere to be found with a gulp. He returned to the phone nervously. "I can't find it. At the time, I kinda lost my head." he admitted sheepishly, and Oishi sighed. _"Oh."_ Keiichi blinked, remembering something. "That's not all. This morning…" He quickly poured out his startling story of the hit-and-run, and Oishi digested it for a moment. _"Did you see the van's license plate?"_ he asked, and Keiichi shifted, hangdog. "Sorry…I don't know anything except that it's a white van. Rena knows about how Satoshi was spirited away by demons. She knows something…"

"_What did she say?"_

"She said I'm acting exactly like Satoshi. That if I go on like this, I'll end up like Satoshi." he said with a shiver, and Oishi made a sound of annoyance. _"What __**exactly**__ did she say?"_ Keiichi swallowed hard. "_Transferred out_…" he whispered, and Oishi hummed. "Transferred out?" he repeated in bewilderment, and Keiichi nodded. "Actually, Rena-" He stopped as the doorbell rang…and kept ringing. He glanced nervously at the door and then lowered his head to the phone. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." he murmured, and Oishi sighed. _"Sure, I don't mind." _Keiichi set the phone down, standing in front of the doorway as the bell continued ringing. Stepping forward, he unlocked the lock on the handle, only for the door to jerk open, stopped from completely slamming into the wall by the chain lock that was still attached. Rena's smiling –and normal– face peered through the gap. "Good evening!"

"R-Rena…"

He swallowed hard. "What do you want?" She smiled slightly. "Keiichi-kun, have you had dinner yet?" He blinked. "No." She laughed giddily, holding up another lunchbox. "I brought some stuff over. If I can use your kitchen, I'll warm it up for you-" Panic flooded his mind. He didn't want _anyone_ in his house –now his refuge– until his mother and father came home. Probably not even then. "Thanks, but we're about to eat." he blurted, and her face fell. "Oh, really?" He nodded awkwardly. "My mom makes a lot of food. That's why I-" She interrupted him softly. "Did you mom really make you dinner?" He swallowed. "Well, I…she's making it now." he mumbled. "Why?" He looked up in shock and growing confusion. "Why do you lie to me? Why?" she whispered, and he looked down in shame. "I'm not lying…"

"LIAR!"

He jerked back in shock from her angered face as it almost instantly smoothed into the blank, catlike look he was becoming so very, very afraid of. "You're eating instant noodle for dinner, aren't you? Pork bon stock, ginger-flavored…and you bought it at Seventh Mart." His body began to shake. "How did you…" he whispered, but she continued without answering. "But that's not enough. You have to eat your vegetables, too. So open up, Keiichi-kun. Come on." she crooned as her hand wrapped around the chain, yanking gently. "Go away." he whispered, anger replacing the fear, feeding on the fear, growing, swelling. "Keiichi-kun, open the door…" she whispered, tugging harder. "Please, go away…" he muttered, clenching his fists. "Keiichi-kun…" she murmured, continuing to yank on the chain repeatedly.

"GO AWAY!"

He seized the door in a frenzy and slammed it shut on her fingers as she let out a shriek of pain. "Go away! Go away! Go away!" he hissed, wrenching on the door as he tried to close it all the way as her cries of pain continued. "You're hurting me, Keiichi-kun! It hurts! It really hurts!" she squealed, and he mindlessly continued yanking on the door. "Go away! Go away!" he roared, as she started to sob. "I'll apologize if I took the joke too far!" she whimpered as he felt the rage slowly sinking in. "Go away go away go away!" Her fingers started to slide free as she yanked with all her might, crying as she did. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" They slipped free as he slammed and locked the door, hearing her footsteps recede, along with her pitiful cries of "I'm sorry". He ran back up to his room, slamming the door, then remembered hazily what he had been doing and dialed Oishi's number.

"Hello, Oishi-san? Rena was here."

_"Did she come to visit you?"_ Keiichi shook his head rapidly. "No…Oishi-san, please tell me what you know about Rena." The man sighed. _"I don't mind, but please keep it confidential. Also, keep in mind that part of this is pure speculation."_ He nodded, jumping as lightning flashed outside. "Okay." He glanced up in fear as the light flickered out. _Oh god, not __**now**__. _He thought with a hard swallow. _"All right. To tell you the truth, I find it quite suspicious."_ Oishi admitted, and he glared at the phone. "So you suspect Rena and the others?" he snapped, and Oishi backed off. _"That's not what I mean. I mean Oyashiro-sama. Whether the curse of Oyashiro-sama really exists…you know…"_ Lightning flashed again as Keiichi jumped._ "Do you remember that incident we discussed about Ryugu Rena?"_

"The one where she broke all the windows in the school in Ibaraki?"

_ "Yes. There were three victims in that case." _Keiichi blinked. "What?!" Oishi sighed. _"Three male students she was very close with were beaten with a bat."_ he explained, and Keiichi's eyes swiveled to the side, seeing the metal baseball bat leaning against his bookcase. "With a bat?" he repeated numbly. _"But neither the school nor the victims pressed charges, so this didn't become a legal case. For some reason, everyone involved refused to say anything. For example, one of the victims refused to talk, despite developing complications in one of his eyes. He kept silent rather than sue."_ Keiichi got up, closing his open window as the rain started to pour down and cradling the phone with his shoulder as he did. He froze.

"_Hello? Maebara-kun?"_

He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. Rena stood there, in the pouring rain, her eyes catlike and flat as she continually repeated the same phrase, over and over again. It was as if she was a statue, and only her mouth moved. She was still holding the red lunchbox._ "Can you hear me?"_ Oishi asked urgently, becoming concerned by Keiichi's continued silence. "What's she…saying?" Keiichi mumbled, peering through the sheets of rain. _"What was that, Maebara-san?" _Oishi snapped, and he squinted, slowly sounding out the words. "I'm…sorry…" he whispered, his hand frozen in place on the windowsill. _"What? Maebara-san? Maebara-san?! Hello!?"_ Oishi called worriedly. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" he repeated softly as her lips moved, unaffected by the pouring rain.

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi glanced to the side as Rena walked up the drive to the school, but she ignored him and walked inside without even glancing in his direction. Mion however, remained unchanged. "Kei-chan! Morning!" she said brightly waving to him. He glanced at her, then continued swinging. "I didn't know you liked baseball!" she exclaimed, and he growled. "You're distracting me! Leave me alone!" he snapped, and she blinked, then looked angry. "Stop swinging that thing!" she spat, and he did, looking at her in surprise. "What?" Her face softened a little, but she still looked angry. "I said stop…" He wiggled the bat slightly in his hand. "I just did." She shook her head quietly. "I mean…please don't do that anymore." she asked, and he scowled. "Why? It's not like I'm causing trouble!" he grumbled, and she straightened. "You are!"

"When?! And to who?!"

She pointed at him. "That's not your bat." He looked down. "It's just something forgotten by the student who transferred out." Her face saddened, and he gritted his teeth. "It's odd. Only the brother transferred out and the sister stayed, right?" he asked quietly, and she blanched. "You knew?" He shouldered the bat, glaring at her. "Hojo Satoshi. Satoko's older brother, right? He was spirited away by demons and disappeared last year. I heard Satoshi practiced swinging, too. Right before he disappeared. Is this like a warning sign before someone gets hit by Oyashiro-sama's curse?" he hissed, and her guilty looked disappeared. "Anyway! Everyone's afraid! Is this is supposed to be some kind of sick joke, don't imitate Satoshi, no matter what!" she ordered, and he slammed the butt of the bat on the ground. "I'll tell you this right now. I don't know anything about Satoshi, because you all hid it from me!"

She looked down and scuffed her foot in the dirt. "We didn't exactly hide it from you…" He stepped forward angrily. "So you did it so I wouldn't be scared? That's why you kept me in the dark?" She looked frightened. "I didn't mean to…" His shoulders shook with rage. "I asked you if anything happened at the dam construction site. You told me nothing happened! Even when there was a chopped-up corpse there! You damn liar!" She flinched, looking startled, then looked down shamefully. "I'm sorry…but I didn't exactly lie…" she mumbled, and he glared at her. "If we were really friends, you wouldn't hide something like that, right?! That's why none of you are my friends!" he spat. "K-Kei-chan…but…" she stammered, and he shouldered the bat with false casualness. "Oh, and the ohagi you gave me tasted great. It was so good, I was bleeding from the mouth. Which one of you did it? You, or Rena?" She looked down. "Actually, Ashes-san lent us-"

He whipped the bat down to point at her. "I won't go down without a fight! Don't think you can get rid of me like you did with Satoshi!" he snarled, and she lowered her face even more. He began to practice swinging again. "I know you had a few fights with the foreman at the dam construction site, too. You thought you could hide everything?!" he snarled as the bell rang, and her eyes widened. "How did you know that…" she whispered, and he stopped. "Let's go. We shouldn't be late for class." he said calmly, passing her, and she rubbed her face as tears ran over her hand. "You're so mean, Kei-chan…" she choked, and then suddenly paused. "I get it…so _that _asshole told you about it." He turned in surprise, seeing her fist shake as she tightened her grip on her satchel. "I should have killed him when I had the chance. He forgot that I only let him go because he's retiring this year…damn it! Damn it! That geezer! I'll kill him!" she hissed, and he swallowed hard. "Geezer? You m-mean Oishi-san?"

_**1.11 PM, USA Central Time**_


	9. Spirited Away By Demons: End

_**This should be the last chapter of the Spirited Away By Demons arc, and wow…I didn't know a four-episode arc could be stretched out so very long. But I just HAD to, to include all of the properly scary parts and whatnot. Hopefully I'll get better at compacting it as I go along. Fingers crossed!**_

_**June 26, 2014**_

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

Keiichi paused as he was walking home from school. Something felt off…again. He turned slightly, then darted into the cover of the forest, hiding behind a tree and peeking out to see what had alarmed him. He swallowed hard. Rena was softly walking along, carrying that gigantic hatchet in her hands. Her eyes had the telltale cold gleam that made him gulp and duck back behind the tree again. "Why is she carrying a hatchet?" he whispered to himself. He glanced out again, and gasped when Rena was revealed to be gone. He felt a breath of air behind him and froze. "Found you, Keiichi-kun." Rena purred, and he gasped and whipped around. "What do you want?!" he stammered. "We go home the same way." she chuckled, and he raised a shaking finger. "Then what's with that hatchet?!" She didn't respond. "What?!" he tried again, and she suddenly burst into laughter.

Wild, psychotic laughter.

She suddenly stopped without even inhaling once, and smirked coyly at him. "Keiichi-kun, isn't something bothering you? I know you're scared." He flinched, then swallowed hard. "No, I'm not." She sighed blankly. "When Satoshi-kun "transferred out", I really regretted it. I kept wondering what would've happened if I had tried to give him some advice." His grip tightened on the bat and he burst out "Transferred out"?! You mean spirited away by demons, right?!" He made a violent gesture with the hand not gripping the bat. "Which one of you got rid of him?! You?! Mion!? Or was it someone else from the village?! Answer me!" She tilted her head to the side with a slight smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He tensed. "Then I'll tell you! Who caused all those freak deaths?!" he snarled, and she lost the slight smile, bowing her head. "You misunderstood, Keiichi-kun. There is no human culprit…" She tilted her head back up with the bright smile he was used to, but with the wrong eyes and the wrong _aura_ about her. This was _not_ Rena. This was something else. "Oyashiro-sama decides everything." He stomped his foot like a child. "The curse of Oyashiro-sama is nothing but superstition!" he hissed, and her smiled slipped again into the blank expression that seemed natural to her when in this state. "You don't believe in Oyashiro-sama?"

"How can I?!"

"Oyashiro-sama exists. Keiichi-kun, have you ever had someone apologize to you the whole time? The whole…time…" His eyes widened as he remembered the events of the night before, the way she stood in the rain and endless repeated "I'm sorry", over and over and over again. She slowly began to step forward, stiffly, almost like a puppet. "Oyashiro-sama came to me. That's why I transferred out and the came back to Hinamizawa. I'm the only one who can help you." she whispered, coming so close that he backed up against the tree to avoid physical contact. "I won't let you "transfer out." she purred, bringing the hatchet up as he swallowed in fear. "So, talk to me." she murmured as the sharp edge stopped uncomfortably close to his throat, and he shifted. "About w-what?" She took another step closer and leaned up to him. "I'll hear you out…I can help you…so, talk to me." She whispered, her mouth coming within inches of his, then leaned back and began to laugh wildly again.

He shoved her away as she landed in the ground with a thud, her hatchet clattering out of her hands, and ran as her laughter momentarily cut off from the impact. Her unabated giggles chased him down the road and into the woods, rising to fully-fledged, insane laughter once more. He ran faster than he ever had in life from the utter panic, then skidded to a stop as two men in similar working uniforms like the man in the truck that had tried to run him over stepped out of the woods. They nodded to each other, and he spluttered in shock and darted away as they both suddenly lunged at him, running back the way he had come in a fog of terror. "What the hell is going on?!" he stammered in panic, then jerked back as one grabbed the strap of his school bag. He spun around, lashing out at them with his bat, and they both backed away. Adrenaline coursed through him from fear, running, and the exhilaration of remembering he wasn't exactly without a weapon. "What do you want!?" he panted, tensing his legs. "The next swing's going right to your faces, bitches!" he shouted dumbly, and their eyes shifted behind him. He looked, and his eyes widened as a _third_ man was revealed, also dressed in the plain workmen's uniform, brandishing a thick length of wood. He was too late to stop it as the wood swung down on his skull.

_***Time Skip***_

Keiichi whipped upright, panting hard. He wasn't dead! Then he winced and raised a hand to the back of his head. Although his skull _hurt_… "You should lie down." He shook, glancing to the side to see Rena smiling at him gently. She was sitting at the side of his futon, and he blearily realized that they were inside his room, inside his house. "Rena…" he mumbled, and she smiled. "I called the doctor, so he should be here soon." He gritted his teeth. "Why are you here?!" he asked angrily, but blinked as the doorbell rang and the door opened and closed. "I'm coming in!" Min's voice called from below, and his body seized up. "Mion? Why?" Rena looked sheepish. "Your parents weren't home, so I called her." His door suddenly opened, revealing Mion. "Hey! You look fine! Looks like you didn't need anyone to worry about you." She closed the door behind her as Rena blinked. "Ashes-chan isn't coming in?"

Mion sat down with a dramatic groan. "Eh, you know how she is about other people's homes. She barely stopped by long enough to drop Kei-chan off and let me thank her. That reminds me, Rena, did you call the coach?" She nodded. "Yeah. I called him right after I called you, he said he'll be right over." Keiichi shifted uneasily. "What coach?" Mion laughed. "You don't know? When I say "coach", I mean THE coach. You got into baseball recently, right? When the coach hears about that, he'll be overjoyed!" she said happily, and Rena nodded. "Yeah!"

Keiichi gritted his teeth. "So, who's this coach?" Rena laughed this time. "The coach is the coach." He felt his anger spike once more. "But who _is_ he?!" They both laughed in unison, and hairs rose on the back of his neck as he realized they were exactly in tune, and it was just like the freakish laughs Rena had made earlier. "What are you…" Mion stopped first. "I know! Let's do the punishment game before the coach comes." she said cheerfully, and he swallowed. "Punishment game?" Rena stood slowly. "You forgot about…the ohagi homework assignment." She murmured as her eyes turned flat and cold, and he glanced up at her uneasily as she circled behind him. "What?" She suddenly caught him under the arms in a vise-like grip, preventing him from escaping. "What are you doing?!" he shouted in panic, noticing Mion's eyes were catlike as well.

"Don't move. This is the punishment game." she said, standing up with a snicker and pulling a syringe out of her pocket, uncapping it with a wicked chuckle. "What the hell is that?!" he spat, writhing in Rena's grip best he could, but he could get nowhere. "What are you trying to do!?" She lost the smirk, her eyes gleaming. That was what he hated most about those eyes, the way they stared. The eyes twinkled with evil inner mischief, and yet their faces were blank, like they were hypnotized. But the _eyes_…the eyes… "You should know, Kei-chan." "Mion" said as she squirted a little bit of the clear fluid out of the needle. "What? What should I know!" he shouted, anger mixing with the fear now. She chuckled darkly, and his eyes dilated with fear as he remembered something about Tomitake. _"We suspected he was under the influence of narcotics, but the tests came up clean." _He struggled frantically as she knelt beside him. "Give up already." She grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm towards her, lowering the needle. "St…stop!"

"STOP!"

Everything began to blur.

Mion.

Rena.

Smiling.

Friends.

Fear.

Anger.

Kill.

At one point he realized he had his bat in hand, and at another he realized the light wasn't working anymore, and broken glass was raining down on his shoulders. He also noticed that neither of them were moving, but also that he couldn't stop slamming the bat into their bodies over and over and over again, trying to physically pound the fear away. His face ran with sweat, and he could feel each and every impact shudder up the metal of the bat and into his hands as bones and flesh bruised and cracked under the repeated blows. He finally managed to stop, holding the bat out in front of him. It slipped from his fingers, rolling on the bloodied cloth of his futon. So dark…so much blood… He panted in the dark room, his eyes unseeing.

Blood.

He fell to his knees, feeling wet, sticky warmth on his clothing, and a slow trickle on his face. A car skidded to a stop in his driveway, and he twitched, his eyes darting to the window. "They're here…" He crawled to the doorway, pulling his clock down and tearing the paper off the back. He added some more writing to the pathetically short message. _"Rena, Mion, and probably __Shōkyaku_ _Ashes are part of the team that committed the murders. There are also four or five other adults involved. They have a white van. Tomitake-san's death was due to some unknown drug. The proof is in the attached syringe."_ He looked up as the doorbell began ringing, and hung the clock back on the wall. He looked sadly at the battered bodies of his friends, and felt the tears begin to fall. "Why…why did it have to end like this?" he choked, wiping his face with his arm and turning, running out of the room and out of his house.

_***Time Skip***_

"Oishi-san! You have a call holding on an outside line." The policeman sat in his chair with a sigh. "Thanks." he said as he picked up the receiver, and the man nodded. "They're calling from a public phone." he put in as Oishi clicked "talk". "Oishi speaking. Hello?" he asked, and blinked. _"O-Oishi-san?"_ He concealed his surprise. "Maebara-san? Did anything happen?" Keiichi's only response was some garbled nonsense, and Oishi hurriedly began writing something down. "What happened?" he asked in alarm, taking down the location of the call. _"I…I…"_ He held up the piece of paper, silently signaling for the man who had informed him of the call to get a car out there. "Please stay calm, Maebara-san. I'm sending a police officer to your location. I'm on the way, too."

"_I-it won't do any good…there's no time…"_

The man stood up and handed him a piece of paper. _ Only one phone booth in Hinamizawa. Sent out a patrol car. Will take 5 minutes._ "Please stay calm, Maebara-san." he said as he read it, adding "Please explain the situation to me." He glanced up at the man impatiently. "That's too long! How many are on patrol!" The man swallowed. "Two." He tapped a finger against the desk urgently. "Did you call the officer stationed in Hinamizawa?" The man shook his head. "He's out on his regular patrol." Oishi glanced to the side. "Kuma-chan! Get the car ready!" Kuma stood up instantly. "Yes sir!" Oishi returned his attention to the phone. "Hello, Maebara-san? An officer is on his way. He'll arrive in two or three minutes. Maebara-san, who did it?! How many of them are there?!"

_"I…I thought humans were behind it. But…now I think…no, now I __**know**__ Oyashiro-sama exists._" he choked out, and Oishi swallowed. "Maebara-san…" Keiichi started coughing, wet, racking coughs. _"He follows right behind me...I run, and run, and run, and run, but he sticks to me like my shadow…And little by little, he creeps closer to me…" _he wheezed, and Oishi tightened his grip on the phone. "Maebara-san, right now…is he…?" he tentatively asked, and Keiichi let out a racking cough. _"He's…right…behind me…"_ he gasped, and Oishi slammed a fist down on the desk. "Who's there?!" he asked frantically, and Keiichi gritted his teeth. _"There's no way I'm turning around! If I do, I'll…I'll…"_ Oishi stood up in his anxiety and anger. "I know you're afraid, but I want you to tell me! Just glance back a little! Who's behind you?!"

Keiichi started making harsh cries of pain, and there was a sick, wet tearing sound. Oishi's eyes widened. "Maebara-san, you're not scratching at your throat, are you?" Keiichi grabbed weakly at the glass, but his hand slid down, leaving a bloody print. He continued to try and gasp for air, choking on his own blood._ "Hello?! Maebara-san! Maebara–" _Keiichi slumped against the wall of the phone booth. "I_–_…s_–_…" The phone line went dead as Oishi stared at his desk, in shock. "The car's ready, Oishi-san! Oishi-san!" Kuma said urgently, and Oishi slowly took the phone away from his ear. "I'm sorry?" he repeated softly, in shock.

_***Time Skip***_

_June, 1983:_

_A double homicide involving two schoolgirls took place in the Hinamizawa section of Shishibone City. The prime suspect is Maebara Keiichi. He invited two of his classmates, Ryugu Rena and Sonozaki Mion, into his house and beat them to death with a metal bat. The suspect fled the scene of the crime. And an officer on patrol found him in a phone booth. The suspect died in the hospital twenty-four hours later. The autopsy revealed that he died from shock induced by blood loss. It appears that he tore at his own throat with his fingernails, then when that failed, used a large piece of broken glass or a knife to stab himself, barely missing his heart. There is no evidence of drug use. _

_A note written by the suspect was later found in his room. The note consists of two sections of paper ripped out of a notebook. It was taped to the back of a clock. It is assumed that the two sections actually came from a larger sheet of paper, but the middle portion has been torn out to suppress information. And from the excess amount of tape, it is speculated that something else was also originally taped to the back of the clock. These are the contents of the note:_

"_I, Maebara Keiichi, am being hunted by someone. I don't know who or what is trying to kill me. But I do know that it has something to do with the curse of Oyashiro-sama. Rena and Mion, and probably __Shōkyaku_ _Ashes are part of the team that committed the murders. There are also four or five other adults involved. They have a white van." And this is the second half… "I don't know how it came to this. If you are reading this, I'm probably already dead. To whoever's reading this…please learn the truth. That's all I wish for. –Maebara Keiichi." _

_When investigating the only named living suspect, __Shōkyaku_ _Ashes, it was revealed that her home had been searched and the occupant was found, recently deceased. Autopsy reveals she had mistakenly eaten poisonous berries instead of a usual meal. Her sleeves and hands were covered in blood, however a human match could not be found. It is theoretically possible that she had killed an animal, however it was unlikely, as she ate the berries instead of the meat from the carcass. She left no note, and it is also unlikely it was a suicide; however the option has not yet been officially ruled out._

Oishi sighed, looking at the pages. _Such a waste._

_**4.47 PM, USA Central Time**_


	10. Ashes's Closure

_**This is (more or less) the entire events of the Spirited Away By Demons arc from Ashes's point of view.**_

_**June 26, 2014**_

_Ashes's POV:_

I walked quietly through the darkness, remembering everything that had come to pass over these few days. Had it really only been a few days? I could both see and hear Keiichi ahead of me, talking rapidly into the phone. "I…I thought humans were behind it. But…now I think…no, now I _know_ Oyashiro-sama exists." he stammered, barely able to breathe from all the endorphins and adrenaline no doubt running through his system. "He follows right behind me...I run, and run, and run, and run, but he sticks to me like my shadow…And little by little, he creeps closer to me…"he whispered as I drew nearer and nearer to the phone both, keeping my steps silent. I did feel a hint of confusion about whether or not he actually knew I was there, or was so deep in his craze he was just ranting. He started coughing wetly as he weakly scratched at his throat, like he had a rash_. "He's…right…behind me…"_

I could tell from his reflection in the glass that his eyes were wide and terrified, and the pupils were dilated to almost nothing. The man on the phone, most likely the officer, Oishi, was probably pleading with him to turn around and face "Oyashiro", most likely hoping for a suspect. "There's no way I'm turning around! If I do, I'll…I'll…" he stammered, then began clawing at his throat in earnest as I saw a spray of blood arch from his neck. He staggered backward, against the glass, and I heard Oishi from the phone. _"Maebara-san, you're not scratching at your throat, are you?"_ Keiichi put a hand on the glass, struggling to rise, but his strength failed and the hand slid down, leaving an imprint of blood. He was slowly choking on his own blood, his hands twitching as he weakly tried to _still _scratch at his throat.

"_Hello?! Maebara-san! Maebara–" _A tear ran down Keiichi's cheek as Oishi stopped. "I_–_…s_–_…" he croaked, and the phone stopped buzzing as the connection dropped. I silently opened the door, and his indigo eyes darted to me, widening in fear. I knelt beside him, being careful not to touch the spatters of blood as I unsheathed my knife. "A-Ashes-s-san…" he whispered, a mere thread of sound, broken, despairing. I gently put a finger to my lips. "Relax Keiichi-kun. I won't make this hurt." He flinched as another tear leaked down his cheek. "W-why…" I remained silent, and my icy eyes gleamed a little with memory.

_I looked up as I saw Keiichi on the hill, squinting in the bright morning light. Rena must've taken him here. Well, I could always get this kitchen knife tomorrow. My own was wearing down. I quickly slid down the shifting pile, putting him out of my site. I didn't need people staring at me like I was some kind of endangered animal._

_I glided silently over the piles of trash, then comfortably sat down on an old TV set, watching Keiichi-san thumb through an old magazine. The shock on his face told the whole story, and I sighed silently. Those idiots tried to bury the past and make it go away by never speaking of it, but newcomers like him were __**obviously**__ in need of at least a friendly warning.__** "**__So you found out."_

_I nearly laughed as he jolted like he had been electrocuted, whipping his head up to see me as I rubbed a thumb against the spear I held, the one I had been repairing with the knife I had found yesterday. "Shōkyaku-san?!" he spluttered, and I smirked slightly. "So you found out about the murders, Maebara Keiichi." I chuckled as she lowered the weapon, running my fingers over the edges of the blade to make sure it would be sharp enough absently. "__**Murders**__?! T-there was only one!" he stammered, pointing helplessly to the paper, and my mouth curled up again at his shock. "Only one that you know of yet. It happens every year you know. The curse." I said pointedly, flipping the spear over to make sure the whole thing was properly aligned. "What __**curse**__?" he demanded, and I smirked. "You'll find out soon enough. All I can say is, I'm glad that I live out in the woods, where it's safe." I said honestly, licking a cut on my thumb in satisfaction. I saw Rena coming over the hill behind him with her favorite hatchet and quickly slipped away. Keiichi would find out from them, no doubt, once he broached the subject. They couldn't be __**that**__ stupid._

_I was a bit concerned on whether or not Keiichi had figured out or been told about Oyashiro-sama's curse, and I watched in surprise as I saw Rena already out front. "Something wrong?" I asked, quickly treading through the darkness and coming to her side, and she jumped, then looked shamed. "Keiichi's asking around about…you know." I put my hands on my hips in exasperation. "You're his friends! Tell him! It won't kill him to know what you're __**hiding**__ from him because you're scared it'll come and bite you in the ass!" I snapped, and without another word turned and hurled myself into the night, feeling branches graze my arms from the swiftness of my flight as I lightly jumped from rock to fallen branch to stone, masking my trail._

_The day after that, both Mion and Rena visited my shack. "I know you and your parents had the best recipe for hot sauce, so cough some up!" Mion said with a grin, and Rena scuffed her foot, apologizing for her friend's brashness. "Keiichi's home sick, and Mion thought it'd be a good prank to put some hot sauce in some of the ohagi balls her grandma made for him, as a sort of club game…thing that we do." I sighed and went to fetch the stuff I already had made. "Don't blame me if it gets out of hand. This stuff feels like needles in your mouth, it's so hot."_

_I had felt uneasy lately, and I found myself walking along Keiichi and Rena's usual route home –although I kept to the woods, like always. Suddenly there was a loud crashing of bushes, and I darted ahead, swarming up a tree with the ease of long practice and seeing Keiichi skid to a halt, some strange men that I had seen about the region lately stopping a few feet away. I could see another one plain as day –although Keiichi wouldn't have been able to, even if he had been facing that way– sneaking around behind the teenager with a length of wood. I frowned, and was about to do something, when Keiichi whirled and the man, without further ado, slammed the wood down on the back of his skull._

_I instantly loaded up the slingshot I kept in one of my pockets and whirled it twice, then snapped it forward, sending a rock into his temple with a solid smack as he staggered, and his friends caught him, quickly getting the message and moving away. I scrambled down the tree, picking Keiichi up and slinging him over my shoulder –I had to carry my kills all the time, not to mention drag all my appliances and furniture from the dump to my house, so his weight was nothing. As an afterthought, I picked up the metal baseball bat that had formerly belonged to Satoshi. He might need it later, and I knew Satoko and the others would not appreciate the bat getting lost._

_As I made it to his house, I pause, uncertain of what to do. I dropped him on the doorstep in a careless heap, and rang the doorbell several times, but no one answered. I quickly picked the lock and went inside, dragging him after me and searching for a phone. I found one in the front hallway, then picked it up, dialing Rena's number. "Hello?" I glanced towards the prone and unconscious form on the floor. "Keiichi got attacked by some bums or something on his way back. He got knocked out and I chased them off, but no one's home." She made a sound of panic. "Oh no! I'll be right over!"_

_About a half hour passed by, and both Mion and Rena arrived, and Rena immediately breezed past me into the house, exclaiming over Keiichi and dithering over him in his room, which I had guessed was his from the general lack of organization. Teens were teens after all. "Thanks for taking care of him Ashes-san. He could've been seriously hurt if you hadn't intervened." Mion said to me seriously, and I shrugged absently, looking up at the rapidly darkening sky as evening approached. "I know him better, and I don't like the bums that tromp around the woods and mess all my hunting patterns up." She nodded, then showed me a marker. "He needs club punishment game, and it'll make sure he never does something so stupid again!" she cackled, and then uncapped it and showed me the permanent ink. "He'll definitely get better soon with this!"_

_I was curious as to what she meant._

_I climbed up the house and perched myself on the windowsill to watch._

_I saw everything._

"Because you can't live with knowing what you've done. I saw it, you know." I told him softly, and he nodded softly. Madness suddenly sparked in his eyes, and he lunged past me, scrabbling at the dirt as I locked my arm around his bleeding throat and yanked him against my body. He clawed at my arm desperately, his nails scraping over his own skin, but my jacket-sleeve protected me from his desperate attempts to draw blood as he thrashed wildly. "Oyashiro-sama protect and guide your soul." I murmured, then wrapped my other hand around his wrist letting him snatch my knife, and plunged it into his chest. He stiffened, and I felt his consciousness leave him as I withdrew the knife. I pulled him up against the wall, leaning his head back against it and gently closing his eyelids, bowing to him once as I stepped out and closed the door of the payphone. My eyes narrowed and went to the side as I saw a police car approaching, and within one moment and the next, I had plunged into the cover of the natural world, shooting over rocks and branches.

_***Time Skip***_

I sighed, stirring the berries in the bowl with my finger in dejection. _Rena, Mion, and Keiichi, all dead._ I sighed and took a scoop out of the bowl, swallowing the berries. My throat suddenly seized up, and I coughed, feeling a numbness rapidly spread through my body, starting with my mouth and throat and going all the way down to my feet as I tried to stand, but stumbled and fell, my eyes widening as I realized what had happened. _The…berries? But…I __**know**__ that those are safe. I've eaten them every day of my life- _My eyes squeezed shut. _Someone switched them. I don't know who, but it must've been those men from the woods. _I smirked slightly as I opened my eyes and looked at my blood-spattered sleeve. I hadn't had time to clean it off before I felt hungry. _Even in the afterlife, you're still giving me trouble Keiichi-kun. Oh well. _

My eyes closed again.

_Oyashiro-sama protect and guide-_

_**5.55 PM, USA Central Time**_


	11. Cotton Drifting Arc

_**Sorry about the long leave of absence…I'll try harder next time. Next arc, here we go! Just to let you all know, I AM operating on the "reset, everybody lives" thingy from the anime. Just in case there was any confusion. Also, fifty thousand yen is actually only about 500 US dollars. So it's not exactly a fortune, but since Keiichi and the others are all teens…it isn't exactly spare change either.**_

_**July 15, 2014**_

_Ashe's POV:_

"_**Don't run from me. You can never run from me, because you can never run from your fate. I'm waiting for you, **__**Shōkyaku Ashes.**_"

_Get out of my head! _

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD DAMNIT!"

My eyes shot upon, and I snapped upright, gasping. This one had been so _vivid…_ I shook my head rapidly, clutching my heart. I didn't believe in demons, I believed in Oyashiro-sama, and he would protect me. I yawned behind my closed hand, shaking my head slowly. There would be enough time for religion later. Today I had to go into town for a little game. I stood, rolling up my futon carefully and pulling my grey-white sweatshirt over my head, flicking my snow-white hair out from under it with elegant, careless ease. I stashed a few extra yen in my pocket, the coins jingling as I made my way out the front door. _Oyashiro-sama can deliver me from this damned dream, I hope. Night after night after night, and I keep dreaming that new kid Keiichi kills Mion and Rena, and then I kill him, and then I make it home and it all cuts out to that freakish demon and that empty space. Weird._

_3__rd__ Person POV:_

"Why are there so many kids at an ordinary toy store?" Keiichi asked, nonplussed, as he stared at the plethora of tiny children gathered in and around the shop. He glanced at his friends. "Is something going to happen at this store today?" Ashes smiled slightly from beside him. "Indeed. First prize is 50,000 yen." she said neutrally. Keiichi yelped and jerked away. "Holy crap, S-Shōkyaku-san! Don't _do_ that!" Then what she had said caught up with him. "50,000 yen?!" Rika and Satoko, perusing the comics at the front of the store, turned at his shout. "Hello, everyone! We were waiting for you!" Satoko called, and Rika beamed. "Good morning! What's wrong Keiichi, why did you shout?"

Keiichi dramatically pointed his finger at Ashes. "This, this _ninja _snuck up on us again! I swear, she's trying to kill me from a heart attack!" The "ninja" raised an eyebrow at him as Mion snickered. "Maebara-kun, I don't "sneak up" on you. It's not my fault you don't observe what is going on around you." she said, hiding a small smile, and he growled. "What's that supposed to mean?! Get back here!" He started chasing her around Mion and Rena, but Satoko lunged forward and caught him as Mion jumped up, eager to distract her friends from the fight. "Let's do it!" Keiichi stared at the blank table as the smaller children gathered around it. "So this is where we're holding our club games?" he asked, and Mion nodded. "I'm friends with the store owner. I get him to hold these game tournaments to attract customers from time to time." Rena grinned. "We have a lot of people in our club today!"

Keiichi looked askance at Ashes. "You know Shōkyaku-san, you don't show up at the club games all that often. How come?" Ashes shrugged nonchalantly. "I have to sustain myself and my parent's home all on my own, most of the time I can't manage to work the club games into my schedule." Her eyes sparkled ominously as she grinned. "But for a chance to earn some cold hard cash, I'll be the worst opponent you've ever had." Mion grinned at her evilly. "That's the spirit! Now, the winner is allowed to do _anything_ to the losers." Keiichi acquired his game face. "Bring it on." They all sat down, ready to play the game. The man giving them the prompts sat down, picking up the pile. "_Even dogs get tired when they walk._"

"Here!"

Rena slapped her hand down on a card with a picture of a dog on it. She giggled and rubbed it on her cheek. "It's so cute…I'm taking it home!" she squealed as beside her, Satoko gave her a withering look. "_President Reagan reminds you of arguments._" Satoko chuckled, pulling a card out from her lap. "It's mine…" The boy sitting on Keiichi's right gasped. "When did she…" Keiichi chuckled wisely. "Satoko's started setting her traps…" he muttered, and the man held up the next card. "_Praise your beloved child over and over._" The boy that had been shocked at Satoko's traps reached for it. "Got it!" He flinched however, at Mion's sudden evil aura from beside him, and she quickly reached out and snatched it out from under his hand. "Got it!" she giggled as he shuddered, Keiichi giving him a sympathetic look. "_Preferring dumplings over flowers is bad for your diet._" Rika and another boy reached for it at the same time, then drew back. She gave him an innocent look from under her lashes, and he swooned as she gently grabbed the card. "I got it!" He laughed giddily. "You're really good, Rika-chan."

"Wow, you're all too good." Keiichi said softly, noting that even Ashes had somehow gotten ahold of several cards herself, and was grinning the widest he'd ever seen her, like a cat that got the cream. He glanced to his right at Mion's snort. "What?" She closed her eyes disdainfully. "You disappoint me. You're the only one not taking this seriously." He glared. "What? I am too!" She returned the look. "You're not. If you were really serious, it would be impossible for you to have no cards so far." Rena scratched the back of her head. "Huh? Is Keiichi-kun having a tough time? Is he?" Satoko feigned sympathy, grinning. "How pitiful." Keiichi suddenly stood, grabbing the boy sitting beside Rika and the one between him and Mion and dragging them off with him. "We're going to the bathroom."

Once he had reached the sanctity of that porcelain lair, he faced them squarely. "Tomita-kun, Okamura-kun, let's make a deal. Help me win." Tomita started. "Maebara-san, let's not resort to violence!" He knelt. "Let me finish. First, Tomita-kun. You like Satoko, don't you?" He flushed and shook his head rapidly. "Don't deny it!" Keiichi snarled, turning to Okamura. "And Okamura-kun, you like Rika, don't you?" His eyes widened sharply. "Don't turn red!" Keiichi closed his eyes and stood. "If I win, I'll let you two do anything to them!" he promised, grinning. The two boys stood there for a moment, then grabbed his hands with all the fervency of knights swearing in a vow. "Senpai!" Tomita squealed, and Okamura pumped his hand rapidly. "We'll help you win!" Keiichi's eyes sparked. "Just you wait."

_***Time Skip***_

"_Call out 8, 9, 10 to the tearful face._" Mion reached for the proper card. "Got it!" Okamura, however, puckered his mouth and blew, causing a breeze to flip the card right into Keiichi's hand. "Got it." His tiny smirk grew slightly as Mion narrowed her eyes. "_Good medicine hurts your wallet._" Rika smiled softly. "I have it." Tomita pretended to trip against his chair, falling chest-first onto the table and bouncing the appropriate card up into Keiichi's hand. "Got it." Tomita leaned back slightly. "Sorry!" The two young boys continued to "accidentally" fall and blow, leaving Keiichi to snatch card after card after card after card. Mion chuckled as he caught another one. "Not bad, Kei-chan. I take back what I said." He deliberately placed the latest card on his tall stack, much to the awe of his young audience. "This is nothing when I'm serious." Mion chuckled, drawing his attention to her just-as-big stack. "Well, bravo." The children gasped again. Ashes leaned forward with a wicked gleam in her eyes, tapping her slender index finger against her equally large stack. "For 50,000 yen, I can hold out as long as I need to." Mion grinned slyly at the both of them. "Unfortunately, now we're all tied." Keiichi stiffened, then glared at their sponsor. "Hey pops, read the last card!"

"Sure."

The clock suddenly rang. "Wait!" Mion stood up rapidly. "I'm postponing the match." she said cheerfully, walking away as Keiichi gaped. "What?!" Mion had reached her bike by the time the enraged teen made it out of the store. "Hey! Are you bailing?!" Mion unlatched her bike lock and turned, pressing her hands together. "Sorry Kei-chan. I've got work." The others walked out as Keiichi stared at her. "_Work_?" he repeated blankly, dancing in place. "I never even heard of that!" Their sponsor shrugged. "Well, we'll leave the prize money for next time." He handed Keiichi a package. "But take this for today." Ashes's eyes narrowed fatalistically. "I was promised _money_ for dragging myself all the way into town." she said dangerously, and the man rapidly fished in his pockets.

"Eh, um, here! Is this enough?" he asked somewhat nervously, handing her his pocket change. Ashes stirred the money with her finger. "It's enough." The man quickly retreated into the shop as Keiichi stared at Ashes. "You're like a mob boss…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his head, and she grinned wickedly. "Money is money, and I need as much as I can get." Satoko folded her arms. "A mob boss." she repeated woodenly, and they all laughed.

_**9.03 PM, USA Central Time**_


End file.
